The consumer demand for fat-free and low fat baked products has increased recently due to public awareness of the health risks of dietary fat. This is especially true with baked items which contain relatively medium to high levels of fat which contribute heavily to their appetizing taste, flavor and appearance.
Many efforts have been made to remove or lower the fat content of baked products and still obtain an edible product from the oven. Fat-free or reduced-fat baked products usually require major reformulation. Also, replacing fat with prior art fat mimetics may require special processing and handling (i.e., high shear mixing or homogenization) which adds extra steps and/or equipment to the bakery process.
Numerous efforts have been directed to providing fat mimetic replacements for fat in baked products. U.S. Pat. No. 3,453,116 to Freund is directed to an emulsifier system which can be used to replace fat in baked products. The emulsifier system comprises a propylene glycol monoester of a fatty acid and a stabilizer for the fatty acid monoester. The stabilizer is an ionic surface active salt.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,242,366 to Morgan, et al. is directed to an emulsifier system for use in baked products, such as cakes, as a replacement for some or all of the shortening in the cake. The emulsifier system includes propylene glycol monoester, alpha monoglyceride and glyceryl lactoester.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,984 to Murphy, et al. is directed to doughs and batters which contain hydrated polysaccharide hydrocolloid, hydrated insoluble fiber and hydrated protein. The hydrated materials are added to the dough or batter formulation as an aqueous dispersion. The aqueous dispersion of the hydrated polysaccharide hydrocolloid, hydrated insoluble fiber and hydrated protein can be used to replace fat in baked goods.
The present invention relates to a particulate fat replacement system which can be used to completely replace fat in several bakery items, such as cakes, muffins, cookies, sweet dough products, pizza crust, pie crust and other baked goods. The provision of a particulate fat replacement system is highly desirable in that the particles are easily measured and dispensed. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide fat-free and low fat bakery items which have similar organoleptic properties as those of full fat products.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a complete fat replacement system that is easy to use and does not require any further processing prior to use.